Many states have laws requiring that children be restrained in a car seat while in an operating vehicle. Child car seat manufacturers have developed two different standard types and sizes of car seats to assure parents that not only are their children safe but that they are compliant with the state laws. The first standard type car seat is the infant carrier which is typically used with infants who weigh up to 20 pounds. The second standard type car seat is the front facing toddler support which is for toddlers who weigh from 20 pounds to 50 pounds. Unfortunately, the toddler support car seat due to its larger dimensions cannot accommodate newborns or very small infants, including premature infants and prematurely discharged newborns. The infant carrier, which is smaller than the toddler support, is also often too large to accommodate newborn or premature infants.
Infants who are too small to properly fit in a car seat can flop back and forth while in the car seat. Newborn or prematurely born infants, when placed into a car seat, are commonly forced into a seated orientation in which either the head is slumped or slouched or their entire bodies are slouched over since their bodies are not large enough to cover the surface area of the car seat. This not only affects the comfort of the child but also his or her safety and health.
Much of the surface area of the car seat between the body of the infant and the side walls of the car seat is left unoccupied. Even when the infant is secured by the safety belt which is part of the car seat structure, the infant is not supported at its lateral sides of its body and at its head and neck by the seat belt. The safety of the infant may be compromised in this situation.
Moreover, infants can be uncomfortable in such a slumped or slouched over orientation. A slumped or slouched over orientation can negatively affect the infant's breathing. Studies have shown that premature infants have significant decreases in oxygen saturation while restrained in a car seat with 30% experiencing hypoxia, bradycardia, sleep apnea or some combination of those conditions.
The decrease in oxygen saturation is directly related to the degree to which the infant is slumped or slouched over in the car seat; the more slumped or slouched over is the infant, the greater the physiological risk, the less slumped or slouched over is the infant, the lesser the physiological risk. This occurs because the more slumped or slouched over the infant is, either forward or sideways, the greater the risk of airway obstruction in the infant.
Infant slouching or slumping occurs for two basic reasons, low birth weight infants cannot resist the gravitational effects if their bodies are in a too upright position, and standard sized child car seats do not provide the necessary support and orientation for these infants to prevent the gravitational effects. These effects can cause slouching or slumping since most infants do not have the physical maturation or strength of the back to maintain an upright position.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a child's car seat cushion that helps to support the child in a physiologically and physically beneficial orientation when the child is too small for the car seat by minimizing or preventing the child from slouching or slumping. There also exists a need for a child's car seat cushion that helps to secure the child who is too small to fit in standard size car seats in such car seats in order to help protect the child from injury during a vehicle crash event or sudden vehicle movement.